{"id":6683,"date":"2016-09-08T12:30:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T17:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefest.com\/kdstaging2\/?p=6683"},"modified":"2016-09-08T14:58:09","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T19:58:09","slug":"only-sleeping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/only-sleeping\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Sleeping?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who considered John Lennon lazy didn\u2019t know John well. John “worked smart, not hard,” but he worked without ceasing. Even while piled up in bed with his many pillows and guitar, John was never indolent. He was composing songs, listening to the telly for ideas, reading and scribbling notes on a sheet of paper — discovering concepts that he would later put to use.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His Aunt Mimi had taught the boy to create: to “Do something productive, John!” (whether that “something”\u00a0<\/span>was writing, composing, meditating, reading, listening, or absorbing). And the place where John was most creative was in his room. In his early Hamburg days, John wrote about this topic in There\u2019s A Place<\/em>. He sang:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a place, where I can go,<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

when I feel low, when I feel blue\u2026<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

and it\u2019s my mind<\/i>\u2026\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So where did he retreat to live inside the mind, to be inspired? Well, for John, that place where <\/span>dreams could translate into beauty<\/b> was always found in bed. Even as a little boy, John sat on his bedspread above the Mendips\u2019 glassed-in porch and cut out dancing paper skeletons, illustrated his “Sport and Speed” serial stories, and sadly, sang himself to sleep. Bed was his retreat, the place where he could imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, in 1966, when he penned “I\u2019m Only Sleeping” for Revolver, John created not a bored and listless throw-away number but a powerful and ironic song. The irony falls upon the word, \u201cONLY.\u201d <\/span>John cheekily saying to us, “I\u2019m <\/span>only <\/b>writing a great poem.” “I\u2019m <\/span>only<\/b> building something magical.” “I\u2019m <\/span>only <\/b>composing.” <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Lennon is doing in his room \u2013 in his bed \u2013 is bigger than “running everywhere at such a speed.” He\u2019s chosen the higher road; he\u2019s <\/span>chosen to stop, breathe, think, and create<\/b>. And wonderfully, John\u2019s letting you and me into his half-awake, half-asleep realm: The Land of Incredible Ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the first time in a long time, John turned to “our kid,” to his little brother (as it were) George, to help him bring this dream realm to life. In EMI Studio 2, John and George began the song\u2019s recording, softly playing acoustic guitars in the key of E minor. They performed a bit faster than John wanted the song to be recorded, making it possible for George Martin to slow and mellow the sound, post-recording. (1)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t all\u2026George Harrison had something special up his sleeve. He announced that he had composed a lead melody line <\/span>intended intentionally to be played backward<\/span><\/i>. More specifically, Harrison composed this line so that the tape could be <\/span>run backwards<\/b> and then and then only, the tune that George wanted to hear would emerge. (2)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more: Not only did Harrison play this line <\/span>once <\/b>on his guitar, but George played it again using his Gibson SG run through a fuzz box \u2013 varying the lines very slightly so that when they were played together they produced a blurry, ethereal sound. Dreamlike, unreal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So if we\u2019re being totally honest here, “I\u2019m Only Sleeping” isn\u2019t just a John Lennon creation, it\u2019s a Lennon\/Harrison composition\u2026a superb collaboration that well exceeds their early endeavor, “Cry for a Shadow.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For those out there who still see this complex song as a nod to the escape world of sleep, you\u2019re also right! In 1966, John was suffering from what today we would diagnose as “clinical depression.” He had all the symptoms. He had gained weight; he was lashing out at Cynthia, the other Beatles, and the EMI staff. He was bored with everything and recklessly displeased with everything. John seemed to have lost interest in the world around him. Therefore, he retreated more and more often into the altered world of drugs and the magical, shadow world of sleep. \u00a0On a literal level, that explanation of his mood does exist in this song.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But “I\u2019m Only Sleeping” is about so very much more. The key to its depth and meaning can be found in the lyrics. \u00a0In “Tomorrow Never Knows,” when John is singing about <\/span>merely escaping<\/span><\/i> reality, he “turns off his mind, relaxes, and floats <\/span>downstream<\/b>.” But in “I\u2019m Only Sleeping,”\u00a0<\/span>he intentionally says,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I’m in the middle of a dream<\/i><\/b>
\n<\/i><\/b>Stay in bed, float up stream\u2026\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Float <\/span>up stream<\/b>? Notice here that John\u2019s fully-engaged and actually moving <\/span>against the current<\/b>. He\u2019s willing himself to progress, to achieve, to be inspired\u2026and to turn inspiration into music. Surely, that\u2019s not escape, is it? No, this is something else.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I\u2019m Only Sleeping” mattered to John. He was very particular about the way he wanted it to be recorded. When he heard the initial playback of the song, John asked that Paul be taken off the vibraphone. Instead, John wanted Paul returned to his Hofner bass, to render that mellow, soft, wistful quality that you hear between the lines. John wanted to “make it dreamier and more mystical sounding.” (3)<\/span>\u00a0Paul was even instructed to yawn around Minute Two.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What John was trying to recreate was “the place” where he could go when he was low, when he was blue. He was, uncharacteristically, inviting us in. John Lennon was admitting us into his inner sanctum. That was and still is quite a privilege.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But instead of being honored, many music critics and fans criticized the song and the singer. They pointed fingers at him and called him slothful. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“No good deed goes unpunished,” John often smirked. Then, he retreated to bed, to the kingdom of imagination. And glaring, he closed the door.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

1.\u00a0Guesdon, Jean-Michel and Margotin, Phlippe, <\/span>All The Songs<\/span><\/i>, 328 Rodriguez, Robert<\/span>. Revolver: How The Beatles Re-Imagined Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll<\/span><\/i>, 101. The voice was over-dubbed and sped up while the rhythm track was slowed down. <\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Emerick, Geoff<\/span>. Here, There, and Everywhere,<\/span><\/i> 124 and conversation with Geoff Emerick, May 2016. Emerick is very clear about the fact that George really struggled to record this bit for the song making the recording session \u201cone hard day\u2019s night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Guesdon, Jean-Michel and Margotin, Phlippe, <\/span>All The Songs<\/span><\/i>, 328 and Rodriguez, Robert<\/span>. Revolver: How The Beatles Re-Imagined Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll<\/span><\/i>, 130. Rodriguez\u2019s work is a \u201cnot to be missed\u201d book on <\/span>Revolver<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Jude Southerland Kessler is the author of the John Lennon Series:\u00a0www.johnlennonseries.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Jude is represented by 910 Public Relations —\u00a0@910PubRel<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter and\u00a0910 Public Relations<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who considered John Lennon lazy didn\u2019t know John well. John “worked smart, not hard,” but he worked without ceasing. Even while piled up in bed with his many pillows and guitar, John was never indolent. He was composing songs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[98,111,117,30],"class_list":["post-6683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baby-boomer-beatles-blog","tag-jude-southerland-kessler","tag-revolver","tag-the-beatles","tag-the-fest-for-beatles-fans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6683"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6687,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions\/6687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}